Malaysian Could be Jailed for Converting from Islam to Christianity

[_DigitaLVampirE_]

After a landmark superior court decision downgraded secular law and constitutional guarantees against Islamic rules, a storm of protest has been building up as government and civil society rush to find a solution to the religious impasse.

The verdict, last week, held that the constitutional right to freedom of worship does not apply to Muslims and that civil courts have no jurisdiction over Islamic matters.

The verdict denied official recognition to Lina Joy, a Muslim who converted to Christianity a decade ago and told her to appear before a Shariah court to renounce Islam, ironically an offence in Malaysia punishable with three years in jail. After the verdict neither judge nor politician was willing to enter the fray and unravel the dilemma and ease the great disquiet that has gripped this multi-ethnic society.

Malay Muslims form close to 60 percent of Malaysia's 26 million people and their civil, family, marriage and personal rights are governed by Islamic Shariah courts. The personal laws of ethnic Chinese, Indians and others who form the remainder are administered by civil courts. However, the constitution is vague on what happens to converts such as Joy. Failure to correct the imbalance created by the new verdict, legal experts said, will crack the system founded on secular law which guarantees religious freedom for all citizens.

"It is a clash between individual rights on the one hand and, on the other, a growing Islamisation of Muslims and their sense of siege fuelled by wars across the world and by active Christian proselytising," one independent constitutional expert told IPS but declined to be named for fear of persecution. "The judgment has ignored the supremacy of the constitutionàthe only solution is to reassert that supremacy," the legal expert said. "We need to constitutionally reorder society."

On independence from Britain 50 years ago Malaysia's founders found it convenient to deem Malaysia as a secular state in order to foster a multi-racial society while making Islam the official religion to take care of the interests of native Malays. However, this solution has proved problematic with Malays beginning to look upon their religion as a mark of their distinct identity.

One solution that could accommodate individual interests, suggested privately by some experts including Muslims, is to provide a proper and legal exit for Muslims wishing to follow other religions. However, the mere suggestion of such a solution which requires amendments in the existing Shariah laws will spark Muslim anger, and no political leader Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi downwards is willing to take the risk. Even opposition icon Anwar Ibrahim, who has promoted moderate Islam far longer than any other Malaysian leader and is trying to make a political comeback after six years in prison, is also unwilling to grab the bull by the horns.

In a statement Ibrahim, to whom many Muslims and non-Muslims look up to for alternative leadership, took the position that Muslims can only renounce Islam through the Shariah court and Islamic laws. "The verdict is not about compelling Lina Joy to return to Islamà it is about the rules that must be complied with when an individual wishes to renounce Islam as his or her religion,'' Ibrahim, a religious scholar himself, said. "I believe that such a matter must remain within the jurisdiction of the Shariah courts and whether or not such a renunciation is appropriate is a matter for the Shariah courts to decide.''

"The government has failed to deal with this issue in a manner that would reassure non-Muslims that their constitutional freedom in respect of religion has not been compromised," Ibrahim said. "It is also most deplorable that instead of demonstrating a new resolve to forge interfaith harmony in the light of this decision, the government is trying to gain political mileage from it."

Critics of the verdict point out that apostasy is already a crime in Malaysia and punishable with jail, fine and forced rehabilitation. Even the dissenting judge in the 2-1 majority verdict had pointed this out -- saying asking Lina Joy to go to the Shariah court to "leave Islam" was unfair and discriminatory because she could end up incriminating herself. Despite reassuring statements from Muslim leaders widespread disquiet is on the rise as people realise that the court had failed to uphold the supremacy of the secular constitution and its bill of fundamental liberties.

The court also ruled that civil courts have no jurisdiction on Islamic matters --a sweeping decision that leaves scores of non-Muslims in a legal limbo.
An example is the case of Mt Everest climber Moorthy Maniam, a Hindu by birth but buried as a Muslim in 2005. Islamic administration officials "acquired" the body after a headline grabbing tussle for it with Moorthy's wife Kaliammal, saying he had secretly converted to Islam.

Kaliammal disputed the claim and asked the court to declare her husband a Hindu, but the court instead said since one party is a Muslim the court had no jurisdiction to hear the case. Kaliammal has appealed to a higher court to exhume her husband's body and dispose it off according to Hindu rites and customs.

But with the apex court ruling that civil courts have no jurisdiction in Islamic matters, aggrieved citizens like Kaliammal remain without a remedy, a situation that is intolerable in any society respecting justice and rule of law. "The decision has a devastating effect on issues of fairness and justice. Citizens will rightly wonder whether the judiciary is capable of delivering justice for those who turn to it," said ALIRAN, a social reform movement, in a statement.

"The judgment does not end the Muslim - non-Muslim divide but has instead worsened it by introducing Islamic principles into secular, constitutional matters," said opposition leader Lim Kit Siang in an IPS interview. "A political solution is urgently needed now to resolve rising disquiet," Lim said urging Badawi to take steps to satisfy non-Muslim fears of "creeping Islam."

"Badawi must take immediate steps to promote and protect the supremacy of the secular constitution and its bill of rights," Lim said.
Outside of a political solution there is little else that anybody can do now that the apex courts has ruled, said opposition lawmaker Kulasegaran Murugesan. "The verdict is binding on all the lower courts."

"A political solution is urgent and must come from Badawi who espouses a moderate form of Islam," Kulasegaran said, urging the Prime Minister to amend relevant parts of the constitution to clarify the issues and uphold the supremacy of the constitution.

"Badawi must make it clear that non-Muslims should not be subjected to Shariah law," he said. "Even a political statement on these lines will help to ease non-Muslim fears." Badawi's ruling National Front government has a stranglehold on parliament controlling 90 percent of the 217 seats -- a massive majority that can be used to make or change laws.

"Ultimately the solution is in the hands of the voters," Lim said referring to a general election widely expected later this year.
Badawi strongly denied the verdict was "a political decision," but public belief is that the judges made their ruling with an eye to their political masters and Muslim sensitivities.

"They must have a hole in their headà I have never hoped or coerced the judiciary into making a political decision," an exasperated Badawi had said when refuting charges that the verdict was manipulated to satisfy one section of society. While Badawi insists that the constitution remains supreme, public confidence in his pronouncements have taken a beating after many promises remain unfulfilled.

With dissatisfaction among non-Malays growing over this and other issues, Badawi is under pressure to smoothen out things before facing voters, 45 percent of whom are non-Muslims. One government suggestion that may be pursued is the creation of a multi-ethnic "religious commission" to receive, arbitrate and resolve religious issues and disputes.

Baradan Kuppusamy from Kuala Lumpur
6/11/2007

[_DigitaLVampirE_]

ROME -- If you live in a predominantly Muslim country and want to convert to Christianity, chances are your faith will be put to the test. The latest example of troubles Christian converts face comes from Malaysia, where last week the country's highest civil court rejected a woman's appeal to be recognized as a Christian, the Associated Press reported May 30.

Lina Joy, born Azlina Jailani, had applied to change both her name and religion on the government identity card all citizens carry. The name change was not a problem, but authorities refused to delete the Muslim identification from the card. According to the Associated Press, about 60% of Malaysia's 26 million people are Muslims.

A May 26 report by the Associated Press recounted that Joy began going to church in 1990 and was baptized eight years later. She went to the Federal Court in May 2000 in order to oblige government authorities to change the religious designation on her identity card, but the tribunal ordered her to take the matter to Shariah courts. Joy's next step was to take the matter to the Court of Appeal, but she also lost her case in that tribunal.

Joy appealed the case before the Federal Court in 2005. The arguments ended in July 2006, with the decision denying her appeal handed down last week.

In the meantime, the Associated Press reported that Joy has been disowned by her family and forced to quit her computer sales job after clients threatened to withdraw their business.

The three judges of the Federal Court ruled 2-1 against her. Only the Islamic Shariah Court has the power to allow her to remove the word "Islam" from the religion category on her government identity card, the decision stated.

The wording of the decision showed the difficulties involved in obtaining freedom for religious converts. "You can't at whim and fancy convert from one religion to another," said Federal Court Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim in his judgment, Reuters reported May 30.

"The issue of apostasy is related to Islamic law, so it's under the Shariah court," he stated.

According to Reuters, the country's Shariah courts generally do not allow Muslims to formally renounce Islam, preferring to send what they consider to be apostates for counseling. They even fine or jail them.

Fundamental right denied

Shortly after the court's decision, Joy announced that she may leave Malaysia for not being able to freely practice her religion, the Associated Press reported May 31. "I am disappointed that the Federal Court is not able to vindicate a simple but important fundamental right that exists in all persons: namely, the right to believe in the religion of one's choice," Joy declared in a statement released through her lawyer, Benjamin Dawson.

Joy is not alone in her problems. Last year BBC radio broadcast a report on the problems faced by Christian converts in Malaysia. According to a report on the program published by the BBC last Nov. 15, many converts are obliged to lead a secret, double life.

"If people know that I've converted to Christianity, they might take the law into their own hands. If they are not broadminded, they might take a stone and throw it at me," said Maria, one of the converts interviewed by the BBC.

Maria's case was so sensitive that the priest who baptized her refused to give her a baptismal certificate. Maria has concealed her conversion from her family for fear of the negative reaction it would provoke.

Further problems were reported last Dec. 6 by the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper in Australia. A Malaysian hospital refused to hand over a dead man's body to his widow because she planned to give her husband, a Muslim who converted to Christianity, a burial in accordance with his new religion.

The widow, 69-year-old Lourdes Mary Maria Soosay, complained to the police of harassment by Islamic religious authorities regarding the matter of the burial of her 71-year-old husband, Rayappan Anthony.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, this was the second time in about a year that a non-Muslim has fought for funeral rights over a family member. In the first, Islamic officials gave a former soldier a Muslim burial against the wishes of his Hindu widow.

A similar case was the subject of a report April 19 by the South China Morning Post newspaper. Kaliammal Sinnasamy, a Hindu woman, saw her husband's body taken from her by Islamic authorities and buried as a Muslim in December 2005.

Her husband, Moorthy Maniam, was a Hindu, his widow declared. Her attempts before Malaysia's courts to impede the Islamic burial of her husband came to nothing, when the tribunal ruled that it had no jurisdiction to hear any matter involving Islam, even if one party is a non-Muslim. Sinnasamy has appealed the decision.

Problems abound

Malaysia is far from the only country where Christians face considerable difficulties. Last year the case of Abdul Rahman, a convert in Afghanistan who risked a death sentence for converting to Christianity, received widespread coverage.

Rahman had lived in Germany for some years, but after returning home was arrested in February 2006, explained a report on the case published the following March 23 by the Washington Post. Rahman was freed and escaped prosecution after authorities declared him to be mentally unfit for trial, reported the BBC on March 29. He was, however, forced to flee Afghanistan, and was given refuge in Italy.

Meanwhile, Somalia prohibits all conversions, reported the Catholic Information Service for Africa last Sept. 21. After the fall of the government in 1991, Somalia fell into chaos. A transitional government was established in October 2004. This government later adopted a Transitional Federal Charter, which established Islam as the national religion.

Another African government, Morocco, recently jailed a tourist for six months for the crime of attempting to convert Muslims, reported Reuters last Nov. 29.

A German of Egyptian origin, Sadek Noshi Yassa, was arrested as he was distributing books and CDs about the Christian faith to young Muslim Moroccans in the street, officials said. A court in Agadir found the 64-year-old man guilty of trying to "shake the faith of a Muslim."

Religious violence

Apart from problems related to conversion, life for Christians in many Islamic countries is difficult, to say the least. On May 3 the Guardian newspaper in Britain reported on the situation in the northern Nigerian city of Kano.

Militants from a group founded by radical Islamic students recently went on a killing rampage, which left 10 dead. According to the Guardian, the episode sent a new wave of fear through Kano's minority Christian community. The region has suffered religious violence that has caused tens of thousands of deaths in recent years.

Another problematic country is Pakistan, where Christians were recently warned to convert, or face violence, reported the Associated Press on May 16. About 500 Pakistani Christians in Charsadda, a town in the North-West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan, received letters in early May telling them to close their churches and convert.

Easter is also another touchy issue. In fact, Easter is illegal in Saudi Arabia, explained a report by the Associated Press on April 9. The kingdom allows only the Muslim feasts of al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, and al-Adha, which concludes the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.

As well, the article reported that the crown prince, Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, has stressed that the kingdom would never allow churches to be built. More than ever, Christians living in Islamic countries are in need of prayers.

By Father John Flynn
6-10-2007
ZENIT - The World Seen From Rome

[_DigitaLVampirE_]

Matters pertaining to Islamic law must be referred to the Syariah Court, as it is the main body entrusted with administering justice according to the confines of Islam.

ALL the hue and cry prior to and after the Federal Court’s judgment in the Lina Joy case are manifestations of ignorance, arrogance and sheer defiance of logic. It once again proves that the most unsettling problem afflicting our people is the problem of knowledge.

It’s alarming to encounter certain individuals or groups of people are ignorant of their ignorance and yet are bold enough to indulge in matters alien to their understanding. To further exacerbate the confusion, they choose to remain obstinate by discarding authority, i.e. true knowledge and erudite scholarship.

As was adjudicated in the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court, the case of Lina Joy is primarily administrative in nature. It essentially deals with the question of conversion procedure – whether or not a Muslim has to obtain a decree from the Syariah Court confirming one's apostasy.

A lot of people appear to consciously reject the fact that this country practices a dual legal system of parallel status – civil and syariah. This unique system is sanctioned, among others, by the Ninth Schedule and further bolstered by Article 121(1A) of the Federal Constitution, the supreme law of the country.

When it comes to matters pertaining to Islamic law, they must be referred to the Syariah Court, as it is the main body entrusted with administering justice according to the confines of Islam.

Conversion out of Islam is part of Islamic law, and therefore the Syariah Court is the only proper platform to resolve the issue. It is hard to believe that some people simply refuse to deal with the Syariah Court, assuming that justice will be denied.

The law is simple and straightforward. There is no need to complicate matters by manipulating the issues to the extent of threatening national unity. If one is not happy with any decision of any subordinate Syariah Court, then one may appeal. But some seem to already admit defeat without even trying.

It is amazing to learn that segments of our learned citizens throw their allegiance to a “foreign” law as compared to our readily available own internal legal provisions.

It is well and good to acknowledge the superiority of the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 (UDHR) over our Federal Constitution, namely with regard to the freedom of religion.

But it appears to run foul if one were to make the same recognition, say, with the provisions of holy scriptures: the Bible, the Vedas, and particularly the Quran and Sunnah.

Many do not realise that in adopting any international document, we must first examine if it is binding. The UDHR is not legally binding even in countries which have agreed to adopt it.

Furthermore, in the Malaysian context, section 4(4) of the Human Rights Commission Act 1999 clearly provides that the application of any external laws must be filtered through the Federal Constitution.

Certainly, apostasy is currently the hottest issue at stake; it is an internal legal problem. Like it or not, in order to resolve the issue, we must first acknowledge and apply all rules and laws available in our own backyard. The so-called international law only plays a persuasive role that may be referred to as a guide, not the determining factor.

One must not approach apostasy strictly from its constitutional or civil legal perspective alone. Religious representation must be given, if not more, at least an equal consideration.

In the case of Muslim apostates and those who support them (especially fellow Muslims), it is inconceivable that they would willingly leave Islam or give tremendous support if they properly understood the religion of Islam.

This holds true even to the followers of other religions. One will only renounce one's own religion as a result of utter ignorance, frustration or disenchantment.

First and foremost, Muslims must understand that they have chosen Islam consciously and willingly as a result of understanding and knowledge. Even Muslims cannot take things for granted believing that they are Muslims simply by birth.

All Muslims, either by birth or by conversion, must be made to realise that they have actually entered into a primordial covenant with God in the supernatural realm long before they were born to this world.

And this divine contract, i.e. the pledge of recognition, trust and allegiance between all human souls and God, is recorded in the Quran, namely, in Surah al-A’raf (7): 172.

This recognition and trust needs to be observed accordingly. In fact, this is the very foundation where all aspects of human life originate. None can ever claim that he/she is not aware of this spiritual contract, as the Quran is the reminder.

Therefore, once a Muslim breaches this divine contract, he is subject to a certain kind of religious remedial measure or punishment. This situation is very similar to that of commercial transactions where, for instance, those who breach contracts are punished in accordance with the terms and conditions stipulated in their agreements.

In the case of the Islamic legal system, there are provisions available pertaining to apostasy. If a crime takes place, then all parties involved are required to abide by them. In fact, every aspect of life, including the issue of freedom, has to be understood and exercised within the framework of religious parameters.

Certainly, the availability of fixed rules and regulations do not negate the possible and necessary modifications in the manifestations of justice according to Islam.

One of the substantial differences between Islam and the other religions is that, the latter possibly do not speak of a divine primordial covenant. This explains why the question of leaving one's religion for another is never an issue in non-Islamic religious traditions.

Muslims must not become Muslims simply because they are born within Muslim families or societies. For the converted Muslims, the motivation must not be for personal gain, be it in the form of marriage or other socio-economic and political benefits.

It is never too late to rectify any wrong once it is discovered. Gradually he/she must make efforts to increase his/her knowledge about Islam. In this regard, other Muslims, especially the loved ones (husbands, wives, parents, etc.), or those responsible for the conversion, must assist him/her along the way.

With proper understanding of religion, one will not easily leave religion for mundane reasons. A lack of compassion on the part of the Muslims will perhaps stifle any attempt to call the other to Islam.

By Dr WAN AZHAR WAN AHMAD,
Senior Fellow/Director,
Centre for Syariah, Law
and Political Science, Ikim
Tuesday June 19, 2007

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A Hindu Lina Joy, subjected to Islamic “re-education”
Some civil groups in Malaysia have organised a prayer vigil Revathi: and Indian Hindu who January last was condemned to 180 days of “rehabilitation” in a centre lead by Muslim authorities.